Call Number: OH 92
Interviewee: Butler, William W., 1919-
Interviewer: Arthur L. Norberg
Repository: Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Description: Transcript, 105 pp.
Abstract: Butler begins with a brief description of his early life and education. He discusses his work on radar and sonar with RCA during World War II. He describes his decision to obtain a graduate degree in electrical engineering after the war and his subsequent employment with Douglas Aircraft. The focus of the interview then shifts to Butler's work with Engineering Research Associates (ERA). He recounts his start with ERA in sales under William C. Norris and his contribution to High Speed Computing Devices, and his work with John L. Hill and Arnold A. Cohen. Butler recalls the difficulty of selling the idea of the magnetic drum and his later engineering work on several ERA projects. He discusses product planning at ERA, including the 1103 computer, and later at Remington Rand. Butler describes the competition and cooperation between Eckert-Mauchly and ERA when both were divisions of Remington Rand and Remington Rand's corporate structure. He concludes the interview with a brief mention of Engineering Products Associates, Technical Systems, Inc., and Commbase, three firms he founded after leaving Sperry Rand.
Subject(s):
Remington Rand, Inc. ; Norris, William C., 1911- ; Magnetic drums -- Marketing ; Magnetic drums -- History ; Hill, John L. (John Lindsay), 1909- ; ERA 1103 (Computer) ; Engineering Research Associates ; Engineering Products Associates ; Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (Philadelphia, Pa.) ; Douglas Aircraft Company ; Computers -- United States -- History ; Computer industry -- United States -- History ; Commbase (Firm) ; Cohen, Arnold A. ; Butler, William W., 1919- ; Technical Systems, inc.
Citation: William W. Butler, OH 92. Oral history interview by Arthur L. Norberg, 8 November and 11 December 1984, St. Paul, Minnesota. Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Copyright: Copyright to this oral history is held by the Charles Babbage Institute. Distribution in any format of the transcript in its entirety is prohibited. Permission to quote from the transcript under the fair use provision of the copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) is granted provided that this source is cited.
Transcript: Link to transcript